Former New Zealand flyhalf Andrew Mehrtens has highlighted what he believes to be the difference between the All Blacks and Wallabies at the moment. The All Blacks successfully retained the Bledisloe Cup after beating their arch-rivals in back-to-back Tests.
In the first Bledisloe Cup clash of the year, the All Blacks ran riot during the opening 15 minutes as Will Jordan, Rieko Ioane and Caleb Clarke all crossed for a try each. But the Wallabies, to their credit, wrestled their way back into the contest during the second half.
The All Blacks had two players sitting in the sin bin late but managed to hand on for a 31-28 win at Sydney’s Accor Stadium earlier this month. They backed up that effort with an improved performance at Wellington’s Sky Stadium last Saturday evening.
Australia landed the first blow with backrower Fraser McReight crossing for an early try. While the opening half was quite tense, the second term was one-way traffic as the New Zealanders snapped their hoodoo in the capital with a dominant 33-13 win.
While they lost three of their six matches, the All Blacks ended up finishing second on The Rugby Championship ladder behind only the Springboks. As for the Wallabies, they collected the wooden spoon after finishing with just one win – 20-19 over Argentina in La Plata.
“It wasn’t perfect for them tonight but they’ll be happy. That was a much-improved performance and a much more complete performance,” Mehrtens said on Stan Sports’ post-game coverage.
“They did have some players who really stood out and I think that was probably the difference at the end, just the quality of certain individual performances.
“I thought Anton Lienert-Brown was outstanding for the All Blacks. Tupou Vaa’i, in attack and in defence, made some crunching hits.
“There were just those moments of brilliance that maybe the Wallabies lacked. Some of that’s team cohesion but some of that’s just the individual quality of players.”
The All Blacks were under a fair bit of pressure early on this Test and it looked that way early on as the visitors took control. McReight reaped the try-scoring reward of the Wallabies’ brilliant start but the men in black were able to recover.
Caleb Clarke scored with time up on the clock at the end of the first-half to give the All Blacks the lead. That was an advantage they wouldn’t surrender throughout the remaining 40-minute period that was still to come.
Clarke sliced through the Wallabies’ defensive line with power, determination and ease – just as fullback Will Jordan had earlier in the half. The All Blacks’ tries were clinical so it wasn’t surprising to see them run away with a solid win later in the Test.
“They’ve got the confidence and they react well the All Blacks with support play,” Mehrtens explained.
“Then you’ve got, like I say, Will Jordan just breaking through one tackle, that’s all he needs. The All Blacks with all the possession and all the confidence really, they just kept the ball alive.
“The support play, getting around the player, providing options… there’s always someone ready to go.”
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